


Shorts

by hells_intern



Series: Quick Writes [6]
Category: Original Work, The Boy Who Fell (Webcomic)
Genre: Mafia AU, Other, RIP, choking but Not Like That, saffron and ramia are au versions so, shitty kinda parenting, the au is what if ramia went with what ld had originally planned instead of making a deal with saff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 13:34:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13614429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hells_intern/pseuds/hells_intern
Summary: tbh im just making these a series of shorts i write for my ocs. there's warnings at the beginning of chapters for the more violent ones





	1. Mafia Au

**Author's Note:**

> This short has child abuse, both emotional and physical, and violence

They were maybe 12 at the time. The Boss had taken favour to them, often complimenting them on their quietness and polite yet not ass-kissing demeanor. They kept the fact those traits were mainly anxiety to themselves. Unfortunately however the said illness skyrocketed their nerves when they heard him call for them.

It was quelled slightly by the reasoning for their summon.

“A.. Necklace?”

While they guess it was pretty, it didn't feel very special. Just another metal chain with a simple golden ring tied onto it.

He tutted. “Not just any necklace, Mars,” he said, pressing it into their hands. “This necklace symbolizes your  _ new _ status.”

“...My new status, sir?” they parroted softly.

He grinned, obviously pleased with himself. “Your new status as my future second in command.”

They felt their heart drop for a second before soaring. Second in command? Hell, that's practically king from where they started! They couldn't help the beam forcing its way across their face.

“I won't let you down, sir!”

  * 4 years later -



They failed. They couldn't retrieve the painting. They were worthless, useless, flawed,  _ broken,  _ **_unnecessary-_ **

“The Boss is waiting, Mars.”

They couldn't help the flinch at the cold voice of the current second in command, a barely noticeable hint of smugness radiating from them.

They were so fucked.

The room was practically pitch black as they shuffled in. Instinctively they gripped at their necklace for comfort. They paused two feet away from the desk as they always have, waiting anxiously. Usually this was the part where they'd hear him yelling at whatever unfortunate idiot had messed up big enough for them to be pulled into the office. But instead the Boss sat there silently, staring at them with an unreadable expression. They just kept their head down.

“Mars. I truly expected better from you.”

They flinched, already feeling hot tears gathering.

“I hold you to a higher expectation then the others,” he continued, getting up from his chair, “or I would've never chosen you for your future position.”

He stopped in front of his desk, facing the terrified 16 year old. They waited with bated breath for his next words that would make or break their fate.

“And as such, you will have to suffer harsher punishments.”

They felt their stomach drop.

Before they could properly ask him what he meant, a sharp pain exploded in their side as a sudden harsh blow threw them onto the cold tile floor. They hissed softly in pain, bringing their head up to see where the Boss had gone. Their question was answered in the form of their head being slammed onto the ground, a heeled foot on their back forcing them to stay down.

A sudden soft touch on their neck made them flinch.

“Do you wear this everyday?” they heard the Boss murmur.

Not sure if they were allowed to speak, they slowly nodded their head.

They felt him grab onto the chain as he spoke his next words. 

“Then this will make your punishment all the more fitting”

He ripped the chain up, causing their body to instinctively move up. When they did, however, he pressed harder onto their back, cutting off their pained scream into a choke.

They clawed at their throat as their vision blurred, desperately trying to find the latch to undo it. A sharp sting followed by an unfamiliar flow of something warm trickling down their neck fueled their panic as they tried to rip the ex-safety blanket off.

“If you had just done what I asked we wouldn't be here, Mars,” the Boss sighed above them.

Tears began flowing down their face as their vision quickly blackened further.

He was right.

It was all their fault this was happening. It was their fault the painting had been lost, that they'd almost been caught, that their life was slowly falling away from their grip.

They were just useless, useless, useless,  _ useless, useless, uselessuselessuselessuselessuseless- _

“I think that's enough, Boss,” they heard the second in command call out. “They look like they're already slipping.” Despite the sickly fake concern dripping from his voice, they couldn't stop the overwhelming relief and thanks they felt as the Boss let his grip slacken with a huff.

He watched emotionless as their body hit the floor unable to support itself, gasping for air and choking on their blood that flowed in their throat. They dry-heaved blood onto the stainless floors as he spoke.

“Remember that you're lucky, Mars. If you were anyone else your life would have been gone in an instant. Your life isn't as bad as theirs.”

He turned on his heel and calmly left the room, the second in command following with a soft smug snicker.

And as they felt the blackness welcome them into its arms as the doctor hurried in, they repeated their mantra in their head.

_ They are lucky. They are fortunate. They should be happy for this.  _ **_This was their future._ **


	2. Eye See You - tbwf au short

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one has violence, eyes getting stab, and angst in general. i wrote this awhile ago for an rp blog i run but never posted it for some reason? but this was made in october of last year so it might be shitty lmao

The stadium was cool and quiet, save for the soft crunch of gravel under the young blood demon’s feet. It was hard to believe the place was once filled with thousands of bloodthirsty fans, screaming in excitement over the slaughter of contestants. Almost every battle had ended in a death.

It was just as hard to imagine him as one of them. Quartz had always been a solid constant through Saff's life, there by his side ever since the blood demon had been separated from his clan. Throughout their whole journey through life he was at every corner, cracking a joke or starting a fight. He was practically untouchable in Saff's eyes, a shining star of a brother. And now he was dead.

Saff's pace began to slow as he made his way through the large debris left from the fight between Quartz and Nero. The whole arena had been practically destroyed during the two’s fight.

He absentmindedly recalled a conversation he had overheard between two fans, complaining at the state of the stadium and how no one could use it anymore.

‘ _ They're right… the arena is completely unusable at this point _ ,’ Saff thought as he ran a hand along one of large rocks left over. Quartz really had outdone himself. 

That's when the pool of blood caught his eye. The only bright color left among the disgusting grey and dusty air, the only piece of evidence left of his brother's fate, the last trace ever left by-

‘ _ Quartz..’ _

Staff felt his arms trembled and tears fall down his face as he stabbed his sword into the puddle of what once had been his brother, his friend, the one who had felt like the only constant in his life-

“BLOOD, I SUMMON THEE!” he screamed in a voice that cracked from grief, trying to cut off his own thoughts.

The last reminders of Quartz followed his sword and filled into the bottle Saff had brought with him, not a single drop left behind.

_ ‘I guess it's time to go home… What am I gonna tell the village-…?’ _

Staff brought the bottle closer to his nose. Something was off… underneath the familiar smell of rock demon blood and Quartz (he pushed another wave of tears down) was a different scent. Not any demon but not any nondemon he's known before.. Something old, something….

 

_ Human. _

 

_ \------- _

 

He sat quietly where his brother had died, waiting. Listening. He knew what was going to come. 

It wasn't fate that let a human like Nero last this long in Hell.

The soft patter of footsteps began to grow closer.

“... Oh. I was wondering when you'd come.” 

It was them, the one who helped murder his brother. Cold anger erupted under the level of calm- apathy? - Saff had managed to achieve yet he forced it away. Acting in emotion had been the flaw in the fight, a flaw that got Quartz killed-

“Please… just give me a moment.”

The footsteps stopped.

“I just wanted to see this place one last time.”

The taste of bile rose up his throat.

“... The place where he died.”

He couldn't tell if what he heard was the wind or someone walking closer. He kept talking.

“Y’know… I couldn't retrieve his body. After the fight he was completely enshrouded in crystal. Within an hour, it all just turned to dust.”

He cursed the small crack in his voice as it got softer.

“I guess… the mountains claimed back what was theirs,” Saff called softly as he turned the bottle of blood in his hands. 

“... But I managed to extract some of his lifeblood. At least I could bring a small piece of him back home to his-” our, “-parents. As impure as it is now with his killer's blood mixed into it.”

He laughed despite himself. How naive was he, entering a contest like the Hell’s Tournament and expecting to exit unscathed? How many times had he watched in excitement as strangers were killed by others as their partners watched yet screamed and cried when it was his turn?

“... Speaking of parents… the village chief once warned us when we left to travel on our own..”

The warn but stern expression of the chief filled Saff's mind as he repeated what they had said.

“You will meet countless people in your travels. Some overtly bad… some, the opposite. But the ones you must always be wary of.. are those who fall into neither category.”

He took a breath.

“You.. Whoever you are.. Are you one of those people?” he asked as turned to look Ramia in the eye.

He felt his heart shatter as the girl he thought he loved didn't respond to his question. She just kept staring at him with a grim determination.

“... But then again..,” he murmured as he stood up, “Nobody's really good or evil, right? All we really want is to live.”

Saff slowly dragged the sword’s blade across his palm, feeling the sharp sting as his blood began to fall around him.

“Quartz wanted to live... Nero wants to live…”

Despite himself he felt a brief pang of sympathy for the human unwillingly trapped in Hell, forced to go through this tournament just for even the chance of going home.

“You… want to live.”

How could he have ever trusted her?

“But in your case, it's a requirement that I die. Did I guess that right?”

He scratched familiar patterns onto the ground in his blood, ignoring the painful throbbing of his hand.

“Because sooner or later.. I might figure out an inconvenient truth.. Who put the trap for Sorian? Why is someone like Nero here?  _ Who is behind all this? _ ”

He looked up to meet Ramia’s calm eyes.

“Someone powerful is illegally involving themselves in this tournament. As if it's a simple game.” As if Quartz’s death was a simple loss- “And that someone might just be the person the village chief has warned us about….. The true enemy..”

The mind demon in front of him finally spoke.

“ _ Tch _ . You're more perceptive then I expected. But I suggest, you do not jump to any conclusions and listen to what I say for a minute-”

“No.. No, I'm done. I'm done with following anyone. My friend is dead. I just.. Don't care anymore.”

Saff steeled himself for his next course of option as the growing appeal of giving up tried to take over.

“I just..”

He raised his sword before slamming it straight into the center of the runes he had drawn.

Instantly an overwhelming pain burst in his head yet he kept going. If he was to die, she was too.

He heard her cry out as blood began rising from each and every crack within the arena.

“Is that-?! You're gonna extract every drop of blood that has ever fallen in this arena?  _ Are you trying to kill yourself?! _ ”

Saff fought for control as he got used to the unbearable pain, drawing all the soaring columns of blood towards him.

“Not even a full-grown blood demon can take this much!”

He turned her out as she screamed his name.

“ _ Listen to me!  _ **_Saff!_ ** ”

A memory of Quartz's smiling face flashed through Saff’s mind. The apathy and tiredness he felt shattered into a flaming rage.

How dare she use his brother's name....

_ How dare she use  _ _ his _ _ name. _

He stabbed his sword through the middle of his chest. Blood snakes instantly grew out of the wound, thousands of them coiling and twisting around him in an unseeable pattern that almost blocked out the sun.

He screamed in pain, from the sword shoved through his chest, from the loss of his only brother, from the heartbreak he felt at her betrayal.

A flaming cold anger poured through his veins.

“Don't you ever… call me Saff.”

The snakes stopped moving.

He ripped the sword out from his chest unflinchingly.

**_“_ ** _ ONLY MY FRIENDS ARE ALLOWED TO CALL TO CALL ME _ **_SAFF!”_ **

He lunged at her accompanied by thousands of snakes making an almost deafening hiss.

Ramia dodged the attack, the snakes cracking the stone where she once stood. Instantly her hand was encased in a glowing purple seel and she sliced through the heads trying to follow her.

They stood motionless for a moment before two more heads took their spot.

“You're not really giving me much of a choice!,” she screamed.

Saffron didn't care. He just wanted her  _ gone _ .

She pulled a knife from the folds of her dress and slashed through the thousands of snakes.

He almost laughed as the snakes stilled around them.

“ _ You think you can defeat me with a knife alone? _ ”

But instead of reforming, they fell. Blood rained around them and Saffron felt more and more of his connection fall away.

“Wh-What happened?! I can't feel them anymore-”

“Wow. It really does work.”

Her clear calm voice cut through the air. He stilled, white clothing and skin stained in blood. 

Despite himself he looked up. And felt his heart stop when he saw her dagger.

“T-That dagger!”

“ _ The Executioner _ , as Hell’s enforcers call this little thing. You must have heard of it… it  _ was _ created specifically for demons of your kind.”

She twirled the knife in her hands as she continued.

“With a single slice, it can reduce blood into a mere lifeless liquid. The more of your snakeheads I cut off with this blade, the more blood you lose. Give up, Saffron.”

Her voice was quiet.

“You already lost everything else.”

“ _ SHUT UP _ !”

He didn't care if he was going to be fighting a losing battle. He lunged at her once more, yet mindful of her dagger as he swung.

For hours they played a game of cat and mouse, Saffron trying to use his snakes to keep her  _ just far enough  _ from his body but close enough to try to drive his sword into her heart while Ramia used his growing tiredness as a weapon, waiting for an opening to strike at his heart.

Finally the moment came.

Nausea and weariness had begun to slow Saffron's movement down as he swung his sword. For a second his actions stuttered.

And that's all she had needed.

She threw herself onto him, using her weight to knock Saffron off his feet and slamming into the concrete ground.

He hissed in pain, instinctively arching upwards only for the cold point of her dagger to touch his throat.

“Give up,” she growled, the sun reflecting off her like a halo.

Saffron shook his head and she stabbed him hard in the gut. 

“Give up.”

Another shake, another stab.

She slashed at his chest and his arms and his stomach until his once pure white cloak was completely stained in red, puddles pooling around Saffron's body. 

She was screaming and crying at him to give up, just give up,  _ let go- _

He shook his head one final time.l and the dagger fell down again. This time, his eye.

Pain burst throughout his body, the slowly fading pain from the previous injuries flaring again as if they were brand new. A scream ripped through his throat and everything was a mess of red and color.

Saffron blacked out from pain, the last thing his quickly failing vision glimpsing a crying, horrified Ramia.

**Author's Note:**

> :') At least they're better now?


End file.
